By Tom Miles (Reuters) 
Greenhouse gases that cause climate change have reached record levels in the atmosphere and show no sign of receding, despite global awareness of the need to switch to alternative energy sources, the United Nations weather agency has announced. In its annual Greenhouse Gas Bulletin, the World Meteorological Organization said carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide were now more prevalent in the atmosphere than at any time since the industrial revolution. The warming effect caused by greenhouse gases — the net amount of radiation coming into the atmosphere – has increased by 29 per cent since 1990 and 1.4 per cent from 2009 to 2010, the last year for which data is available, the WMO said.
U.N. scientists recently said this century will see more intense heatwaves, droughts, floods and storms because of the globally warming climate (see page 38).
The WMO report measures the overall amount of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, based on monitoring stations in more than 50 countries. That means it factors in natural emissions and absorption processes – so called “sources and sinks” – as well as emissions caused by human activity.